The American Red-Bellied Woodpecker

Sought By Birders Throughout the Southeastern U.S.

Dec 24, 2008 Marie Thomas

Red-bellied Woodpeckers, one of the best recognized woodpeckers in the Southeast, average 9-10" long with a wing span of 17-18 inches.

According to the Wild Birds Unlimited (WBU) Field Guide to Birds of North America (on-line), Red-Bellieds breed from Florida and the Gulf of Mexico to west Texas, and north into southern New England, South Dakota, and the Great Lakes region.

Recognizable Markings

The adult male Red-Bellied Woodpecker has a striking bright red cap extending from its bill over the crown of its head to its hind neck. The adult female has a bright red patch also, appearing mostly on her nape, just below her gray crown, with a red spot just above her bill. Both genders have very pale gray or tan faces and underparts, with an indistinct red-tinged belly, noticeable only when the front of the bird is clearly visible.

In flight, the Red-Bellied's white rump, and black and white bars on the wings and back can be seen, with the white-barred central retricies on the tail. This term, normally common only to birders, is plural regarding the rectrix quills, the conspicuous long tail feathers the bird uses to control its flight. A woodpecker's abrupt dipping, turning, and diving flight requires these rudders so important to the species.

High Protein Diets

Woodpeckers chisel away wood to expose insect prey, but they are swift and skillful fliers also, catching flying bugs on the wing. Red-Bellieds consume large numbers of wood-boring beetles, ants, and grasshoppers, as well as eating and caching nuts, seeds, berries, and bread. They love suet during the winter when bugs are scarce, and are territorial, rarely being seen with other Red-Bellieds of the same gender. A male will permit a female to shoulder him off the suet, but will defend it against other woodpeckers, wrens or sparrow, staunchly remaining until satiated.

The male Red-Bellied's wider tongue tip and longer bill than the female allows him to forage in crevices that smaller birds cannot. The Cornell University bird web site hypothesizes this important attribute enables a pair to maximize an area's food resources. The Field Guide to Birds of North America on the WBU web site cites related studies that the male normally forages on tree trunks, while the female forages on limbs, which is thought to be associated with the different types of food they are able glean from those areas.

Courtship and Reproduction

Red-Bellieds inhabit swampy woodlands with mature forests. Male Red-Bellieds make sharp clucks rather than sing, also drumming loudly on resonating surfaces like metal roofs, electrical transformers, and even automobiles, to attract females. The Cornell web site indicates Red-Bellieds are so fierce competing for nesting cavities, that on at least one occasion this species has killed another woodpecker opponent.

Pairs excavate a fresh nest cavity for each new brood within a week to ten days. A pair of Red-Bellieds will aggressively defend their eggs and young, sometimes directly attacking predators that approach. Once the young are grown, their nesting cavity will likely provide a future such site for bluebirds, wrens, and chickadees.

In urban areas, where their ranges overlap, Red-Bellieds are frequently seen being evicted from their completed nests by starlings. In Texas, the Texas Parks and Wildlife (TPWD) web site states nearly half of all Red-Bellied nests are commandeered this way. Due to this competition, the number of these beautiful birds is on the decline.

Reference:

Cornell Web Site, All About Birds Bird Guide , Red-bellied Woodpecker facts

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